1970 FIFA World Cup qualification

1970 FIFA World Cup qualification
A total of 75 teams entered the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 16 spots in the final tournament. Hosts Mexico and defending champions England qualified automatically, leaving 14 spots open for competition.
For the first time, the winners of both the African zone and the Asian and Oceanian zone were guaranteed a direct place in the final tournament. The 16 spots available in the 1970 World Cup would be distributed among the continental zones as follows:
Europe (UEFA): 9 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier England, while the other 8 places were contested by 29 teams.
South America (CONMEBOL): 3 places, contested by 10 teams.
North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 2 places, 1 of them went to automatic qualifier Mexico, while the other 1 place was contested by 13 teams.
Africa (CAF): 1 place, contested by 13 teams. (13 teams applied, but FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire, leaving 11 teams. A 14th team from Africa, Rhodesia, entered through a non-CAF qualifying system.)
Asia and Oceania (AFC/OFC): 1 place, contested by 7 teams (including Rhodesia).
A total of 68 teams played in at least one qualifying match. A total of 172 qualifying matches were played, and 542 goals were scored (an average of 3.15 per match).
Listed below are the dates and results of the qualification rounds.
Key:
Teams highlighted in green qualified for the finals.
Teams highlighted in red in the same table finished level on points and advanced to a play-off on neutral ground.
Qualified teams
Confederation qualification
AFC and OFC
North Korea withdrew because they refused to play Israel. There would be three rounds of play:
First Round: Israel, New Zealand and Rhodesia received byes and advanced to the Second Round directly. The remaining 3 teams, Australia, Japan and South Korea, played against each other twice in South Korea. The group winner would advance to the Second Round.
Second Round: The 4 teams were divided into 2 groups of 2 teams each. The teams played against each other twice. The group winners would advance to the Final Round.
Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.
First round
Second round
Final round
CAF
FIFA rejected the entries of Guinea and Zaire. There would be three rounds of play:
First Round: Ghana received a bye and advanced to the Second Round directly. The remaining 10 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners (determined by aggregate score) would advance to the Second Round.
Second Round: The 6 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the Final Round.
Final Round: The 3 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winner would qualify.
First round
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Second round
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Final round
Morocco qualified.
CONCACAF
FIFA rejected the entry of Cuba. There would be three rounds of play:
First Round: The remaining 12 teams were divided into 4 groups of 3 teams each. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would advance to the Semifinal Round.
Semifinal Round: The 4 teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the Final Round.
Final Round: The 2 teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify.
First round
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Second round
Group 1
Group 2
Play-off
Third round
Play-off
CONMEBOL
The 10 teams were divided into 3 groups; two groups with 3 teams and one group with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
UEFA
(30 teams competing for 8 berths)
FIFA rejected the entry of Albania. The remaining 29 teams were divided into 8 groups, 3 groups with 3 teams and 5 groups with 4 teams. The teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis. The group winners would qualify.
Goalscorers
10 goals
Tostão
9 goals
Gerd Müller
7 goals
Juan Ramón Martínez
Gigi Riva
Włodzimierz Lubański
6 goals
Johan Devrindt
Pelé
Ferenc Bene
Kazimierz Deyna
Colin Stein
Ove Kindvall
5 goals
Erich Hof
Odilon Polleunis
Jozef Adamec
4 goals
Tom McColl
Helmut Redl
Georgi Asparuhov
Hristo Bonev
Guy Saint-Vil
Garba Okoye
Andrzej Jarosik
Warren Archibald
Dragan Džajić
3 goals
Jairzinho
Karol Jokl
Ole Sørensen
Arto Tolsa
Hervé Revelli
Vasilis Botinos
Giorgos Sideris
Guy François
Joseph Obas
Antal Dunai
Mordechai Spiegler
Houmane Jarir
Ola Dybwad-Olsen
Eusébio
Florea Dumitrache
Alan Gilzean
José Eulogio Gárate
Peter Millar
Willy Roy
Wolfgang Overath
Vahidin Musemić
Slaven Zambata
Emment Kapengwe
2 goals
Rafael Albrecht
Ray Baartz
Johnny Watkiss
Wilfried Puis
Raúl Alvarez
Eduardo Antunes Coimbra
Dinko Dermendzhiev
Ralph McPate
Nick Papadakis
Tibor Vigh
Adolfo Olivares
Francisco Valdéz
Jaime González
Hermenegildo Segrera
Eduardo Chavarria
Vladimír Hagara
Ladislav Kuna
Andrej Kvašňák
Wolfram Löwe
Eberhard Vogel
Elmer Acevedo
Victor Manuel Azucar
Juan Francisco Barraza
Joel Estrada
José Quintanilla
Zerga Geremew
Asmeron Germa
Tommy Lindholm
Jean-Claude Bras
Giorgos Dedes
Hugues Guillaume
Rigoberto Gómez
Donaldo Rosales
Lajos Kocsis
Don Givens
Yehoshua Feigenbaum
Giora Spiegel
Sandro Mazzola
Teruki Miyamoto
Johny Léonard
Mohammed El Filali
Theo Pahlplatz
Mohammed Lawal
Olumuyiwa Oshode
Terry Harkin
Saturnino Arrúa
Oswaldo Ramírez
Jacinto Santos
Bobby Chalmers
Bobby Murdoch
Jeong Gang-Ji
Park Soo-Il
Kakhi Asatiani
Volodymyr Muntyan
Givi Nodia
Amancio Amaro
Nasr El-Din Abbas
Aboubakar Bakheit
Ali Gagarin
Abubakr Osman
Paul Ruben Corte
Jules Lagadeau
Ruud Schoonhoven
Roy Vanenburg
Bo Larsson
Fritz Künzli
Georges Vuilleumier
Ezzedine Chakroun
Gerry Baker
Helmut Haller
Josip Bukal
Metodije Spasovski
1 goal
Boualem Amirouche
Alberto Rendo
Aníbal Tarabini
Willie Rutherford
Johnny Warren
Wilhelm Kreuz
Helmut Siber
August Starek
Léon Semmeling
Clyde Best
Winston Trott
Ramiro Blacut
Juan Américo Díaz
Rivellino
Dimitar Penev
Dimitar Yakimov
David Ayo
Dieudonné Bassanguen
Norbert Owona
Norman Patterson
Sergio Zanatta
Jorge Ramírez Gallego
Orlando Mesa
Javier Tamayo
Leonel Hernández
Edgar Núñez
Roy Sáenz
Walford Vaughns
Mario Vega
Panicos Efthimiadis
Nicos Kantzilieris
Dušan Kabát
František Veselý
Bent Jensen
Ulrik Le Fevre
Ole Madsen
Henning Frenzel
Hans-Jürgen Kreische
Peter Rock
Félix Lasso
Tom Rodríguez
Mauricio Ernesto González
Mauricio Alonso Rodríguez
Kebede Asfaw
Emmanuel Feseha
Mengistu Worku
Turo Flink
Jean Djorkaeff
Abekah Ankrah
Emmanuel Ola
Mimis Domazos
Kostas Elefterakis
Giorgos Koudas
Mimis Papaioannou
Édgar González
Nelson Melgar
David Stokes
Claude Barthélemy
Jean-Claude Désir
Reynold Saint Surin
Philippe Vorbe
José Cardona
Rafael Dick
Reynaldo Mejia
Marco Antonio Mendoza
José Urquia
Leonard Wells
Flórián Albert
János Farkas
László Fazekas
Zoltán Halmosi
Lajos Puskás
Lajos Szűcs
Eamonn Rogers
Angelo Domenghini
Lascelles Dunkley
Evan Welsh
Yasuyuki Kuwahara
Masashi Watanabe
Mahmoud Al-Jahani
Ahmed Ben Soed
Mohamed Koussa
Josy Kirchens
Paul Philipp
Hassan Akesbi
Driss Bamous
Boujemaa Benkhrif
Ahmed Faras
Cherkaoui Hafnaoui
Moulay Khanousi
Johan Cruyff
Dick van Dijk
Willem van Hanegem
Wim Jansen
Sjaak Roggeveen
Wietse Veenstra
Henk Wery
Wouter Brokke
Antonio Martina
Elcio Martina
Joseph Aghoghovbia
Peter Anieke
Sam Garba
Sebastian Broderick Imasuen
Sunday Ineh
Augustine Ofuokwu
Samuel Opone
George Best
William Campbell
Derek Dougan
Eric McMordie
Jimmy Nicholson
Odd Iversen
Lorenzo Gimenez
Aurelio Martínez
Pablo Rojas
Alcides Sosa
Roberto Challe
Luis Cruzado
Teófilo Cubillas
Alberto Gallardo
Pedro Pablo León
Bronisław Bula
Jerzy Wilim
José Augusto de Almeida
Jacinto João
Fernando Peres
Emerich Dembrovschi
Nicolae Dobrin
Flavius Domide
Billy Bremner
Tommy Gemmell
Eddie Gray
Willie Henderson
Jimmy Johnstone
Denis Law
Billy McNeill
Emile Pierre Diéme
Abdoulaye Makhtar Diop
Kim Ki-Bok
Lee Yi-Woo
Anatoliy Byshovets
Vitaliy Khmelnytskyi
Juan Manuel Asensi
Miguel Ángel Bustillo
Pirri
Joaquín Sierra
Manuel Velázquez
Gadalla Kheir El-Sayed Ali
Osman El-Fadil
Omar Ali Hasab El-Rasoul
Abdel Kafi El-Sheikh
Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Fadil Jadallah
Awad Nasr Musa
Ahmed Bushara Wahba
Stuart Oosthuizen
Edwin Schal
Leif Eriksson
Ove Grahn
Roland Grip
Örjan Persson
René-Pierre Quentin
Tahar Chaïbi
Abdesselem Cheman
Ender Konca
Ogün Altıparmak
Dietrich Albrecht
Siegfried Stritzl
Atilio Ancheta
Rúben Bareño
Julio César Cortés
Pedro Rocha
Oscar Zubía
Luis Mendoza Benedetto
Mike England
David Powell
John Toshack
Klaus Fichtel
Sigfried Held
Horst-Dieter Höttges
Reinhard Libuda
Max Lorenz
Rudolf Belin
Ivica Osim
Miroslav Pavlović
Denijal Pirić
Edin Sprečo
Godfrey Chitalu
Sandy Kaposa
Dickson Makwaza
1 own goal
David Zeman (playing against Israel)
Johann Eigenstiller (playing against West Germany)
Rudolph Smith (playing against the United States)
Ramiro Tobar (playing against Chile)
Aritatsu Ogi (playing against Australia)
Valentín Mendoza (playing against Brazil)
Héctor Chumpitaz (playing against Bolivia)
José Torres (playing against Greece)
Phillemon Tegire (playing against Australia)
Bruno Michaud (playing against Romania)
Tyrone de la Bastide (playing against Guatemala)
Selwyn Murren (playing against Guatemala)
Notes
In the African zone, aggregate score was used to determine the winners of two-legged ties. However, different tie-breakers were used in the matches when the aggregate score was tied.
Morocco was the first African team to qualify since Egypt in the 1934 World Cup.
As a result of the hostile relationship between El Salvador and Honduras, and rioting during the qualification matches between them, the short-lived Football War broke out between the two countries.
Israel qualified for their only World Cup to date as an Asian team. However, soon after this, they were expelled from the Asian Football Confederation, and now compete in the European zone as they are now a member of UEFA.
References
External links
FIFA World Cup Official Site – 1970 World Cup Qualification
RSSSF – 1970 World Cup Qualification
World Cup
World Cup
FIFA World Cup qualification